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Silver Screening
Party in style with Oscar Night America
By Charlotte Libov
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Ed Christin, chairman of Miami Beach Cinematheque
with Dana Keith, founder and director of Miami
Beach Cinematheque, during Oscar Night America |
Last year’s Oscar-viewing party on
Miami Beach featured Queen Elizabeth II (as embodied by
Judith Gindy), beloved diva Elaine Lancaster (okay, that
makes two queens) and Olympic gold medalist Bob Beamon.
What celebrities show up this year is anyone’s guess,
especially because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences (yep, the actual Oscar folks) is sending
two VIPs to the event.
“We don’t know that it will be celebrities. It could be anyone
designated a VIP by the academy,” said Dana Keith,
founder of the Miami Beach Film Society and Cinematheque,
which hosts the party. “This is a special honor, because
the academy only sends the VIPs to one party each year.
But there are some other VIPs who have been invited as
well — of course, I can’t say who is coming.”
The event is part of Oscar Night America, a program the academy
launched 12 years ago to foster community interest in
the awards show and raise money for charity, said Mikel
Gordon, the academy’s associate executive director.
“It started out as a tiny organization, with one party in
San Francisco and one in Minneapolis,” she said. This
year, there will be 52 parties. This is Miami Beach’s
seventh event, and it’s the only officially sanctioned
Oscar party in South Florida.
“We figure this is a great night for parties, and this also enables
us to be involved in fundraising,” Gordon said. The
organization charges no fees and supplies official
banners and programs, so all of the proceeds can go to
charity.
“There are a lot of arts organizations, but we’ve also had health
care, AIDS, children’s organizations and many more,” she
said, adding that, since its inception, the event has
raised $20.4 million for charity. Sponsoring
organizations must be nonprofit, involve the local ABC
affiliate (ABC airs the awards show) and donate the
proceeds, she added.
In Miami Beach,
the funds support the film society’s programs and
operation of Cinematheque, its photographic art studio
and screening room located at 512 Española Way. In fact,
it was funds from the Miami Beach Film Society’s
Oscar-viewing parties that provided the money for the
small theater in the first place.
The society was established in 1993, and Keith held the first
Oscar-viewing party a year later. From the start, the
parties were a success; the first one was held at the
Strand
restaurant (before it became a nightclub) and was hosted
by Sean Hepburn Ferrar, Audrey Hepburn’s son, and such
celebrities as Sylvester Stallone and Danny Aiello. But
none of the parties were more lustrous than those held
at the Versace mansion, noted Barbara Pergament, the
film society’s chairman emeritus.
“They were phenomenal,” she recalled. “Everyone wanted to be
invited. One year, the entire outdoors was so filled
that, if you had moved a chair, you would have ended up
in the pool. Mayor [David] Dermer gave us the key to the
city. It was very glamorous and exciting.”
Another of her favorite parties was held at Cinematheque. “Dana and
I split up; Dana was at Tantra and I was at Cinematheque,”
she said. Plans to connect the two venues with a red
carpet fell through, but “we had a cocktail party at
Cinematheque and then walked down to Tantra, which was
exquisitely decorated,” she said.
There’s always drama involved.
“Some people are not invited and end up showing up at the door. One
year, the caterer brought dessert dishes instead of
dinner plates. No matter how hard you try, there’s
always a glitch,” she said, recalling how, at one party,
Keith had to climb onto the roof of China Grill and tilt
the antenna toward WPLG Channel 10 so guests could view
the show.
This year promises to live up to its glittery past. The location is
the Victor, the luxury boutique hotel. WPLG’s Laurie
Jennings will host, appropriately garbed in a couture
designer gown.
Lancaster will again preside over the auction and Keith
will offer his customary movie and trivia contests.
Guests generally go formal, and there will be a buffet.
But that’s just window dressing; the main focus is on the Oscars,
Keith noted.
“Before this started, I would sit down with my parents and a bowl
of popcorn and watch the show,” he said. “After all,
it’s the Oscars, and that’s what this is all about.”
2008 Oscar Night
America takes place at
6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Hotel Victor,
1144 Ocean Drive,
Miami Beach. Tickets are $150 or $125 for Miami Beach Film Society members. For more information, call
305-673-4567 or visit www.mbcinema.com. |
